


please remember me

by sepiapages



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Delusions, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Other, Suicide, Will add more as it progresses - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-12 08:17:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7094014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sepiapages/pseuds/sepiapages
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler went running as soon as he saw the smoke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. this is not what you're supposed to see

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what exactly this will become but I'm excited to be writing something again. I hope this will become a little more extensive; maybe shortish like The Night’s Décor? Maybe longer? Who knows. 
> 
> Sorta another Forest fic. Definitely nowhere near the talent as That One (You Know The One) but. here we go.

Tyler went running as soon as he saw the smoke. The fire trucks were late, but he wasn’t entirely sure how late because of how time was blurring and he couldn’t think straight. The smoke wasn’t helping. 

“Josh?” he howled into the hazy forest. “ _ Josh! _ Where are you?”

He knew Josh was in there. He had ignored all the warning signs, all the red flags and sirens going off in his head, screaming at him to fix it, fix his friend, fix everything. Now Josh was in there because he wouldn’t believe in the kingdom Josh tried to tell him about.

“I believe you,” he whimpered, falling to his knees. “I always will.”


	2. I am supposed to be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> edited/reposted 6.23.16

Tyler wished he could lie and say he had just moved in and that was why he’d never spoken to the kid with the pastel pink hair and holes in his ears. They looked intimidating but Tyler soon found out that their smile could warm him from the inside out.

Though he hadn’t wanted to get a job (social anxiety made everything difficult, but this was certainly one of the biggest hurdles) he felt better realizing the other kid was working at the music store he was looking into. They’d just started recently, so that was why Tyler hadn’t seen him before, despite it being one of his most frequented places.

“Hey!” they said, when Tyler came up to the counter holding a ukulele. He didn’t really know why he was buying it. It just looked cute. “I know you. You live… kinda next door, right?”

Tyler paused before answering, his hand tightening on the ukulele. ( _Stay calm, you’re fine._ ) “Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Big white house with the red door?”

Their nametag read Josh. Tyler liked that name. It felt good to say it, as he did many times later.

“I wouldn’t call it red, really,” Josh said, laughing a little. “Maroon, maybe?” They glanced at the ukulele. “Oh, let me ring that up for you.”

Tyler handed them the ukulele and the two shared a smile. Inside the instrument, he later found a slip of paper with a few numbers written on it. His face turned the color of Josh’s hair.

* * *

Nothing seemed off about Josh. There was nothing to indicate that there would be so much more pain beneath the surface of their beautiful, calloused skin. But appearances can be deceiving and sometimes you don’t really know a person until they let you.

They were at the community park. It was late—close to one in the morning—and the stars were bright freckles on the face of the universe. Josh leaned back in their swing and held themself nearly horizontal as they looked at the sky, a strange smile on their face.

“You really don’t know much, Tyler,” they said. It wasn’t in a malicious way. They said it like it was a fact.

Tyler’s grip tightened on the chains of his swing. “What do you mean?”

He only got a shrug. Then Josh leaned forward so far, Tyler was afraid they’d fall on their face in the dirt. “I’m not what I look like. You don’t know what I am.”

The stars were too bright and happy to be the set for this conversation.

“Who are you, then?”

“Not _who,_ ” Josh snapped. _“_ _What_.”

Tyler swallowed and nudged the swing forward, digging his toe into the wood chips and dirt. “I’m sorry… _What_ are you?”

Josh only looked disappointed. They shook their head and dragged their fingers through their hair, pulling. A few strands were yanked out and shaken into the wind. “I don’t have a name. A… a name for what I am. I’m not what they say I'm supposed to be. I’m not anything,” Josh said resignedly, looking back at the ground. “But there’s a place for me, you know. I’m the king. Well, I’m supposed to be, but the trees won’t let me be. They hold too much power. So I guess I’m the prince.”

Tyler couldn’t help but feel confused. He didn’t want to say anything that would make them mad. “Where is it?” he asked numbly. “Will you take me there?” That's what he was supposed to say, right? When someone… confused (not delusional; Josh was fine) said something like that, you were supposed to ask them about it. Even if you didn't understand it, you could try.

Josh scoffed and looked back at Tyler, who sat there helplessly. They stood up and pointed a finger accusingly at him. “You don’t believe me.”

“What—?”

 _“You don’t believe me_!” Josh shouted, echoing into the night.  “It's dark there,” they said as if trying to verbally hammer the images into Tyler's head, “and it's a forest everywhere. But you don't know the trees that exist there. They hear things. They know you better than you do."

In the blink of an eye, their demeanor changed and they were small, vulnerable, cowering in a ball on the ground. “No, no, I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry! I just wanted to tell him.” Their hands clamped over the sides of their head and pulled at their hair again.

“Josh…?” Tyler carefully got out of the swing and crouched beside them, fingers brushing trembling, moonlit skin.

Josh reeled back and a flash of pain lit up Tyler’s arm. He retracted it and stumbled away from Josh, who was getting to their feet as well.

They shook, with anger or fear, Tyler didn’t know. A few moments passed and they stilled. They glanced at the trees standing at the edge of the park, wincing at a gust of wind.

“I’m going home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Josh is agender. Woo!


	3. king of a kingdom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for leaving this for so long!!! I edited the previous chapter so go read that. 
> 
> Also I saw TØP last week and it was incredible.

Tyler didn't bring the kingdom up, but that didn't stop Josh from talking about it and trying to get Tyler to understand.

He didn't. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find the right slot for the information in his head. So it sat there, jumbled around for a while, and then Josh would go home and it would fall out onto his pillow and disappear.

He also couldn't understand how Josh could have so much pain under their skin when it felt so good to press theirs to his. Josh's scarred, patchy, poetic mouth against Tyler's thin, often-bloodied lips made him feel like maybe there was hope beyond his four walls.

But Josh lay there one night and suddenly their lips were pinched and their eyes squeezed shut and they yelled, “Could you close the window?”

They were alone in the house, to Tyler's relief, so no one came in to ask about the noise. 

However, Josh hadn't yelled like they were angry. Distraught, maybe, and anxious, but not angry. They'd yelled like they were in a crowded room and Tyler was on the other side.

He got up and closed the window, fingers resting on the cool frame for a moment. The trees swayed in the gathering wind.

As he sat down back on the bed, Josh had their hands over their ears and was staring at Tyler with a look of disappointment.

“Why won't you believe me?” they asked quietly. 

Tyler reached over with a sigh and tried to pry Josh's hands from their head. Josh tensed and twitched and wouldn't let him.

“I believe you're telling the truth,” he said carefully. “But you've never taken me to the forest.”

“The kingdom,” Josh corrected him with a whine of desperation in their voice. 

“Right,” Tyler said, “sorry. The kingdom.”

They finally slowly removed their hands and lay back against the head of the bed. Silent tears started wetting their cheeks. “I just want you to be there to see me finally win. I'm the king. They don't belong in their power. I hate the trees, Tyler.”

He knew. Josh had mentioned this many times before.

“I hate them. Why won't they let me tell you? If they would stop being so horrible and keeping their stupid forest so exclusive, maybe you would see. Maybe if I burn them you'll see.”

Tyler let out a small sigh and rubbed his arms, not meeting Josh's eyes. “I'm sorry. I'll see one day, I promise.”

Josh only turned away from him and grumbled, “No you won't because you don't believe me.”

Tyler slept alone, but he was used to that. He held his breath and hoped the darkness would bring understanding and even a small fractured glimpse of the kingdom.   



End file.
